Month: November 2017

I don’t even know why I blurred this guy’s username and photo, honestly. I really don’t. I don’t even know where to start with this guy.

My partner and I have profiles at a certain dating website. Our profiles are linked so it’s not really a “secret” that I’m with someone. This website lets me know who has visited my profile and this guy looked at my profile like a dozen times in one day.

So this little charmer started chatting with me. I figured, he’s not really good looking and probably doesn’t get to chat with a lot of people, so I’ll make some polite conversation with him. Oh geez, what a mistake. He started asking really weird questions like am I into wrestling. Do I like piggy back rides? Do I like dressing up like a ghost and running through poorly lit cemeteries? Okay, that last one wasn’t real, but I am really surprised he didn’t. It was just really weird. Some involved bodily fluids. Let’s just say… gross. My replies start going hours apart. Doesn’t phase him any–he keeps going.

He pushes it into high gear trying to make moves on me, asking me to meet him, what I like to do in bed, you know, the typical gay men chatter. If you didn’t know, this is what 70% of conversations are like. I said “Dude, you do know that I have a partner, don’t you?” And he actually said no! I don’t really get what he’s doing looking at my profile so much because he’s obviously not paying attention that I am partnered.

For the next several days he keeps messaging me those “hi”, “what r u doing”, or “hey” messages. I don’t reply to them. Then I finally get this one and have to admit it really made me laugh. Since when is getting a Steam gift card (gaming distributor) an emergency? And by today?! I mean, I could probably still make the deadline, but… what the fuck? This guy needs to grow a brain and get his priorities in order.

Oh, and he’s totally not my type too. He’s definitely not good-looking. If I was available and single, I would have rather died bitter, desperate, and alone rather than put up with someone with the IQ of a tablespoon of applesauce.

The experience from wanting to be nice was horrid and I wish it would just end. I guess I’m going to finally just have to tell the guy to fuck off. Maybe someone else will put up with his dumb ass, but I’m not. Not even for a chat.

Oh, and as I type this, he sent me another identical message. I will go now.

I have been waiting for Thanksgiving to be over because I wasn’t really a big fan of the dead leaf autumn look (brown, orange, yellow, etc). In the matter of a week, my favourite time of the year is upon us. Well, it’s certainly not my favourite time of the year in the southern hemisphere, but it is in the northern hemisphere and that’s what counts, hmm?

To show my love towards the colder months that I wish I was in right now, I decided to change WordPress themes and do some colour changes.

Of course, when I do changes from one theme to another one, stuff can get seriously fucked up. Things may not look so great, and I’m going to try to find and fix them myself since the number of visitors I get here is lucky to go into the 3 digit range. (Sorry for refusing to put all my dirty laundry up on Facebook, guyz.)

That’s it for now. Welcome, a little early, December and wishes that it was winter again.

Bad, bad, bad of me. My birthday’s coming up and everybody around here is asking me what I’m going to do for it. Since I’ve been here, most of the time, I just do something small like have a potluck at the park or gather at a restaurant. This year is a little special because I haven’t made ANY plans and the day is coming up next week.

On the day of my birthday, my partner is busy during the morning and I am busy from the late morning until dinner time so my time’s a bit limited. I’m not sure what I’m going to do.

My birthday invitation would look something like this:

A beautiful use for Comic Sans, don’t you think?

I don’t know but party planning isn’t something I have a lot of interest in, but at the same time, I don’t really want someone else to do it for me. It’s a really weird situation to be in. I feel a little stressed to do something though. I just don’t want it to spill into the weekend since my partner works weekends.

I think one of the reasons I don’t like planning these things is because one of the last times I did, only two or three people showed up (but it was also in the middle of the week).

When I was a kid, my birthday parties were really simple. I wasn’t one of those kids who had birthday parties at McDonald’s, skating rinks, or at pizza places. They were always at home or at a relative’s house. When I’d get invitations from my friends to go to their parties at their places, I’d get a tiny bit jealous a time or two, but I was pretty happy with this arrangement. My birthday was usually family-centered though. I kinda miss that now that I live overseas. Something I especially miss is how my parents would let me anything I wanted for dinner.

So parties and celebrations aren’t my thing anyway and haven’t ever been a big thing for me. Give me a plate of tacos and a chocolate cake and I am happy! So I’m not really sure what I’m going to do, though I really could go for a super good burger!

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!

Don’t worry. I’m not going into social justice warrior mode for this post. I wouldn’t anyway. I wanted to wish my American readers a very happy Thanksgiving, no matter what you’re doing and whoever you’re doing it with.

One of the questions I’m asked is if I do Thanksgiving in Australia. I don’t. People have asked me to, but there are a few problems with this:

I have never cooked a turkey before.

I have never cooked a ham before.

I don’t cook meat very often.

I have never cooked 90% of the stuff we normally have on Thanksgiving. (I could probably make a ton of mashed potatoes. That’s it.)

I’m too lazy to spend a day cooking.

Even if I tried to cook this stuff, I probably wouldn’t succeed.

No cooking I do is good as my mother’s or grandmother’s.

It’s a ton of carbohydrates… not that I care.

That’s my list of excuses. Plus, I just don’t do it here. No reason for me to do it here, especially cooking like this on a Thursday. People will think I’ve flipped the insane switch in my head.

It’s been a while, hasn’t it? I’ve been focusing on feeling a little bit better and it’s worked minimally. I’m coughing my guts up every morning which isn’t really such a bad thing since it’s productive coughing. It’s a bit gross, but right now gross is good, especially since I have to get back into my regular life next week.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve picked up a few games to play to keep me from going insane. I had a lot of time off and this time off has made me feel a bit unproductive I guess you could say. I have more coming up for a longer period so I need to start planning right now. It would have been smart to go away for a bit, but I can’t be bothered to do something like that. Not right now.

So what did I pick up?

Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

I’m a few years late to this. I have been playing Skyrim since it came out and a game in the bundle I got with my XBox One was the enhanced version. Of course, that’s pretty much the only game I played until I finally decided to install another game that came with my system, Prey. That was pretty good too. But then I hungered for something else that was similar to Skyrim, but it wasn’t Skyrim. I picked up the Game of the Year Edition of Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

It’s like Skyrim but it was really hard. It took time to get used to the fighting mechanics and I still don’t really like them compared to Skyrim. I get my ass beat regularly. I’ve died a lot and unfortunately, when you die, the loading screen is up for a long time so it’s like the game actually punishes you for dying. A few times of that and I’m like yeah, I need to get up and do something else.

These beautiful ladies are the Ladies of the Woods. The one on the far right with the wasp nest eye is my favourite.

But don’t get me wrong, it’s really fun. The world is huge. Some of the characters are really memorable. I actually remember things from the game. I sit back and think about it when I am doing something completely unrelated. Unlike Skyrim, you can’t just go anywhere you want and expect to kill stuff. (Basically, the monsters don’t “level up” with you.) It’s a bit more of a challenge, but it makes a lot of sense too. It’s just a really fun game. There’s a spinoff card game called Gwent but I haven’t played it yet. It’s kinda built into the game anyway and I haven’t even tried that either. (I wasn’t a big fan of the card game built into Final Fantasy IX, so I hope this’ll be better, but then again FF IX was like a billion years ago.)

Absolutely, totally worth the money I spent on it. I’m sure it will keep me occupied for a long time. I really can’t wait to see what the development company comes up with next.

Cuphead: Don’t Deal with the Devil

A name that would scare off the most zealous of Christians and superstitious, this game is hard. Cuphead’s art-style mimics cartoons made in the 1930s which, to me, is a lot of the appeal. It’s downright beautiful. But it’s hard… oh my god, is it hard. I can’t tell you how many times I wanted to throw my controller through the TV (or at my partner for laughing at me every time I die). There are a few difficulty levels of each stage and I always like to play the ones for wusses. Even that is super hard.

I know I’ve said a few times that it’s really hard, very hard. However, it’s so fun. It’s incredibly fun. It’s hard, but in a good way. Sometimes I die just from looking at the animation and not paying attention to what I’m doing. Sometimes I die in less than 10 seconds. Sometimes I finish 95% of the stage, then die. I can always retry. The loading screens don’t show if you replay the same stage which is nice, and even if you leave that stage, the loading times aren’t so bad. (Loading screens piss me off, have you noticed?)

If you haven’t played it, you really should. If you don’t want to play it, make sure you watch a video of the game play. It’s probably one of the most visually stunning games I’ve played. I’m looking forward to see what they’re going to do with the intellectual property. I hope there’s more. I’d pay for more.

Hearthstone and Gwent

It’s a card game. I haven’t really been a big fan of card games. I’ve tried, but haven’t had much interest in them. I’m not sure why. When Magic: The Gathering was so big, people were really surprised that I wasn’t interested or had no idea what was happening. Many years later, I decided to give Hearthstone a try. I played for about 10 minutes on my iPhone and it wasn’t incredibly boring like I thought it would be. I’ll play a bit later. Looked good so far! Haha.

Gwent, the game I mentioned earlier, has been sent to my XBox to install. Haven’t touched it yet. I’ll see how that goes.

It’s a little funny though. I really thought that it would have happened before it did in the USA, but even despite that, I didn’t have too many problems with it because Australia is such a laid-back, relaxed place and even without marriage equality, same-sex couples still had a lot more rights than they did in the USA (and still do, honestly).

Something important to know is that it is not legal yet. It basically gives everybody in Parliament the right to a free vote (and hopefully, if they aren’t douchebags, vote with the rest of the country). A Bill needs to be written to make it law and the politicians have to vote on it.

It’s also a bit funny when the people on the “No” side said that the country shouldn’t cater to minorities when it comes to same-sex marriage. Do you know who IS the minority now? Them. Now they’re wanting to make it as hard as possible by writing discrimination into Australian law. They say “Oh, but we have to get our way too since we lost.” You know what would happen if the result was the other way around? Exactly. I don’t feel bad for them. Not. At. All. That’s why I don’t like religion and why being in a country that’s not so religious is great.

Yesterday, the sun didn’t hang around for long. A blanket of clouds covered the skies, and of course after the blanketing became too thick and the sun set, it started to rain. Since I live quite a distance away, I thought that the rain was just temporary so I went home.

When I first moved to Australia, I went through 3 umbrellas in one day. The wind can be brutal.

The thing about living near Melbourne is that you never know whether you’ll need a coat or an umbrella. Most of the time, you need to lug both around you. You never know what the weather is going to do and I’d say the people who “predict” the weather, and I say that with the whole air quotes thing, get it totally wrong. A sunny day turns into a day when the rain is coming at you sideways. They don’t really know what it’s going to do. When I lived in Texas, as long as I could remember, they were usually correct with what the weather would be like. 95% or more accuracy. Here, it’s just anybody’s guess. The TV meteorologist will say that it will be comfortable and calm all day, and wham, midday, a storm roars in with hurricane-style wind. Very annoying.

So, thinking they were going to get it wrong, I didn’t bring an umbrella. I didn’t actually need a jacket or coat. I got off the train at the station and it was raining. I stood there thinking, well, okay I’ll wait for a taxi and go that way. A taxi didn’t come and the city I live in has a really bad problem about not showing up when you call them and their app needs a lot of work. (Taxis cancel on you all the time, then call you after you’ve left wondering where the hell you are.) So, I was like, okay fine. I’ll run.

I had a backpack full of computer equipment and leftover sticky chicken from Gami Chicken and Beer. It’s not really something you want to mix up in a wet bag. I did run a little bit but I didn’t want to drop anything or have a sticky mess in my bag. So, I walked. The rain got worse and I was walking and laughing at myself for not trying harder to get a taxi.

There’s something I am leaving off though. I messaged my partner before I got to the station asking him what he was doing. In fact, I sent him messages before that and noticed he looked at them but didn’t reply. I was hoping he’d realise that it was raining hard and would meet me with an umbrella about 3/4 of the way or something. I finally just stopped waiting and messaged him to tell him that I was making a run for it back home, hoping that would sorta nudge him to do it. He didn’t.

I walked in completely wet and irritated. He said it wasn’t his problem and I should have at least brought an umbrella (which yeah, he was right) and that it was all my fault. I told him that he should have at least had the sense to meet me at some point since it was raining. I would have been wet anyway, regardless, but I thought it would have been nice. I get a bit heated sometimes, but honestly, the rain wasn’t that cold. It eventually got cold, but it wasn’t unpleasant. I was just really worried about my laptop and stuff.

This is Mini Willy. My Chromecast’s name is Willy. If I got a Google Home, I guess his name would be Big Willy. I didn’t ask for its preferred pronouns though, so I’m not sure.

So I went off on him, took a shower, and walked to my desk to get something. I saw a bag that said “Surprise! Happy Birthday” (it’s not for a few weeks) and looked in it and my partner had gotten me a Google Home Mini. I had been thinking about whether I wanted the bigger Google Home, Google Home Mini, HomePod, or if I even needed anything at all. I had almost decided that I would just wait to see what Apple’s HomePod was going to be like first. (I think this was probably my partner’s way to keep me from spending over $400 on a speaker.)

So far, it’s been nice. I’m learning a lot of insults in Hindi to prepare myself for India (at some point). It is nice to be bossy and ask “What time is it” during the night. I guess my more in-depth “review” will be later.

So, after being a big douche, I felt really bad. My partner isn’t happy with me and hasn’t really said much to me since last night. It’s a bit sad. I feel awful for being so mean like that. I think the both of us can be a bit mean though. I just feel quite bad. He’s at work though. So I’m going to have to patch things up when he’s back.

Tomorrow’s the day. The result of the opinion poll that cost $122,000,000 of taxpayer money comes out. I’m just posting this little blurb to say that I am really hopeful that there is a ‘Yes’ majority (and fairly confident it will be), but I also thought there was absolutely no way that the man running the USA would be so-called running it (yeah, into the ground). It was a huge surprise for a lot of people and had the popular vote meant something, my home country would be more respected now. BUT that’s not what this about…

My hopes are high but I don’t want to get them too high for that very reason. I want to think that people aren’t really horrible, but I get a shock sometimes.

But having said that, I’m going to try to go to one of the result events in Melbourne. I just don’t know which one yet.

When the next election happens here, I really, really hope that the voters here remember who put us in the firing line like this and who wasted all this money just to make a few Conservative nutcases happy.

I also hope to God, Jesus, and The Great Flying Spaghetti Monster people in the USA see what damage Redneck King and Holy Lord-Elect Trump has caused already. The USA is such a joke right now. Everybody’s pointing and laughing and I’m here happy I don’t live there now.

Super hard not to get all political now but it happens. The angry thing happens when you watch the land you’re from sink before your eyes.

A week of posts where I complain and whine about my health issues. Who would have thought that is possible? Well, it is. Even as I type this, I am coughing like someone with a 20 year chain-smoking habit. That has caused my voice to go out a few times. You could not imagine the number of people who will call you to chat when you tell them you have a sore throat and you’re about to cough up a lung or two. It feels like this happens every time. I don’t know if it’s a form of validation to see whether I am really that sick or not, but it happens–a lot.

This isn’t what I do, but it sure looks how I feel/sound. (Wait… did that make any sense?)

Regardless, I am starting to feel somewhat better which is great. So, I guess I am thankful that I am feeling a bit better right now.

Speaking about that, a few days ago, before my voice went out and I felt like I drank a quart (which is about 1.15 litres, because the measurement really counts here) of dumpster juice, I had a chat with one of my cousins and I realised something: Wow, my family is really messed up. I still love them so I don’t mean that as something that makes me angry. It makes me more sad than anything.

As my cousin was more or less naming off the drugs he does and how much he drinks, I couldn’t help but think about how lucky I am that I never really started. There are reasons for this though. My dad was quite an alcoholic when I was a kid. Mostly, things were relatively calm at my house. He wasn’t one of those belligerent drunks that punched holes in walls every night (he did do this a few times, but only 2-3 times) or anything, but when he was angry while drinking, things would go flying across the room. The music would get really, really loud. He’d always want to have these chats with my sister and I that were, I guess, deep for him in his inebriated state. I learned quickly just to stay out of his way because he’d either have a hangover or he’d be drunk to the point where bonding wasn’t possible. It really made me sad. He finally was able to get himself together years later, but the damage was already done.

I am a binge drinker when I drink. It probably explains the 2-3 day hangovers I get. Luckily it’s only a day or two per year, but for the past few years, I’ve been drinking responsibly… and that’s good, right?

That’s the main reason why I don’t drink more than I do (perhaps 2-3 times per year up until now). Plus, hangovers are a bitch for me… and I tend to over-drink. Let’s just say that it’s really hard to balance that quantity vs time aspect. I do admit that when I first moved here, drinking became a coping mechanism for me and for a while I drank about 4-5 times per week. I put on a lot of weight and just felt pretty bad. It only lasted about a month.

On one side of the family, all my uncles are alcoholics (including my cousin’s dad). Every holiday we had over my grandparents’ house was a chaotic mess. Every year it was the same old thing: “I quit drinking.” Out of the corner of my eye, I’d see them sipping on something, go and smell it, and it would be strong enough to burn the hairs out of your nose. No one ever really stopped drinking, I think.

I don’t know why or how, but I have avoided falling into that lifestyle. I hardly drink. I certainly wouldn’t even dream using drugs like my cousin does. Addiction is a horrible thing in my family, I feel and I am thankful that I never let it fully grasp me. It really messed with my childhood a lot and it still affects me in one way or another now in my adult life (but at least now, I can be more vocal about it). I wouldn’t wish this kind of thing on any child or spouse. I don’t know where I got the strength from becoming addicted to alcohol or drugs, but I’m thankful I have it. I guess that applies to smoking cigarettes too…

Ah, and about my health… I am from a family of smokers too. I saw pictures of my mother smoking while she was pregnant with me. I like to blame that for all my allergies, breathing issues, and for getting sick all the time. I don’t smoke either and never had the urge. Hell, I don’t know what I’d be like if I did.

I do get sick a lot and take a lot of sick days. People see this as a little excessive (and unwarranted) but I know my body. I know what I am capable of and not capable of when I am sick. I know when I can push myself and when I need to stay still and rest. I shouldn’t have to feel guilty for taking care of myself.

I know this post is a bit strange. It was brought on by something, but I was going to post something about my health regardless if I got sick or not. I decided after my last post that I was going to post something about the thanks I owe myself for being strong in other ways. I know stuff seems a bit negative and stuff, but it’s my way of processing it.

So that’s that! I hope this long post makes up for my lack of updates lately. I’m gonna try to do my next batch of Thanksgiving-themed thanks posts later.

I’ve spent most of the week being immobile, being unable to see out of my right eye, and having a cold. It really stopped me from doing anything productive. I’ve been trying to gather my strength to write a bit, but haven’t been able to write much. Not only that, I ended up having unexpected company for almost the full week too.

For the past few days, I’ve been staying in bed, trying to get better. I was hoping to feel much better today but it didn’t happen.

Not a pleasant week for me to be on vacation. Maybe next week will be a little better.